Nick Kyrgios says Australian Open loss may have been his last singles in Melbourne

Nick Kyrgios is out of the Australian Open in the first round after playing through clear discomfort in a three-set defeat to Jacob Fearnley of the U.K., and fears it may have been his last singles match at Melbourne Park.

Kyrgios, who won the men’s doubles titles with Thanasi Kokkinakis in Melbourne in 2022, started clutching at his abdominal area late in the first set, which Fearnley won 7-6(3). After requesting painkillers, he appeared to say “I’m here now” to his box between the first and second set, before going down a break of serve.

At 1-4, Kyrgios called physios to the court, but continued. They returned at 2-5, but only engaged in conversation with the Australian before leaving the court again.

Fearnley then went two sets up, but Kyrgios pressed on in front of his home crowd, telling his team that he would continue until forced to stop. He had set points in the third set, before eventually fading in another tiebreak and losing 7-6(3), 6-3, 7-6(3).

“Seeing the fans line up for four, five hours, just the amount of people that were there supporting me, it was hard to throw the towel in,” he said.

“I don’t think I can see myself playing singles here again.

“I was knocking on the door, playing some of the biggest events … When you’re competing at some of the biggest tournaments in the world and struggling to win sets, it’s tough.”

The 29 year old, who entered the tournament with a protected ranking of world No. 21, suffered a minor abdominal strain in the week before the tournament. It forced him to withdraw from an exhibition with Novak Djokovic in the run-up to the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.

Prior to that, was drawn to face Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard at the Brisbane International in his first competitive singles match for 18 months. Two of the best and biggest servers in men’s tennis played out three thunderous sets, all of which ended in tiebreaks. Mpetshi Perricard won, and though Kyrgios shrugged off the pain to play alongside Djokovic in the doubles tournament, the impact on his wrist left him in serious pain.

Kyrgios underwent a full, secret wrist reconstruction in September 2023, as reported by the Canberra Times. He had ligament damage so severe that he struggled with household tasks and feared never playing tennis again.

His best singles run at the Australian Open came in 2015, when he reached the quarterfinals before losing to Andy Murray in three sets.

Fearnley, who enjoyed a meteoric rise up the ATP Tour rankings in 2024, will play Frenchman Arthur Cazaux in the second round; Kyrgios remains in the men’s doubles draw alongside Kokkinakis.

(Top photo: Kelly Defina / Getty Images)